Huanghuagang’s Statue of Liberty

The Huanghuagang Martyr Memorial was built to commemorate the martyrs who died in the 1911 Guangzhou uprising led by Sun Yat-sen. The base of the tomb was layered with granite with 4 pavilions housing a stela, one dedicated to the 72 martyrs. Behind the tomb sits a memorial honoring them, on top of the memorial stands a Statue of Liberty figure. The second commemorative stamp as part of the “70th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution” issued in 1981 contained the picture of the Statue of Liberty at the Huanghuagang Memorial. It has been 90 years since the construction of the Huanghuagang memorial, and with the change of times, the Statue of Liberty on top the memorial also underwent several transformations, bearing witness to a turbulent history of hardship and change.

Early photo of the statue

In 1918 when the Huanghuagang tomb for the 72 martyrs finished construction, individuals and the overseas Nationalist Party (KMT) branches donated money to build a memorial, and it was completed in 1921. The memorial was piled together with 72 blocks of limestone in the shape of a mountain, representing the 72 martyrs, with every limestone carved with the names of each KMT branch and individual’s name, on the top perched a State of Liberty figure. The horizontal inscription honoring the 72 Martyrs of the Republic was written by the famous revolutionary Zhang Binglin. The earliest Statue of Liberty figure was over 2 meters tall, holding a book in her left hand and a mallet in her right. The exterior was rough, resembling an oval stone, the sculpting not quite refined, with only a few rough lines of decorative designs on her.

Early photo of the staue with two birds at the base

Why did they erect a Statue of Liberty on top of the memorial? At the time the reason was that erecting a Statue of Liberty symbolized the revolutionary mentality of a nation built upon liberty and equality. The Xinhai Revolution led by revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen was in essence a democratic revolution opposed to tyranny in the name of the republic. The Statue of Liberty in Paris symbolized liberty and democracy, sharing the same ideals pursued by revolutionaries of its time.

The Statue of Liberty replaced by KMT emblem in the 1930s

At the time, there was a Statue of Liberty standing on top of the memorial rather than a KMT emblem, I think this was due to society at the time. Because at the time of the 1911 Guangzhou Uprising the KMT was not yet founded. The KMT was founded on 1912 August 25 which was quickly disbanded by Yuan Shikai. By 1914 July 8, Sun Yat-sen gathered all the KMT revolutionary party members in Japan and declared the “Blue Sky and the White Sun” designed by Lu Haodong as the national and military flag of the Republic of China, but not as the party flag. In 1919, The Chinese Revolutionary parties changed its name to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) but didn’t establish a Party emblem. So that the designers did not install a KMT party emblem on top the memorial was understandable.

Nationalist China currency showing the KMT emblem on top the memorial

Yet, on top of the Huanghuagang memorial once stood a KMT emblem. That was during the 1936 Xi’an Incident where the the Statue of Liberty was a taboo symbol under the Chiang Kai-shek regime. In early 1937, the Statue of Liberty was forcefully removed by the KMT government and changed to a “Blue Sky and the White Sun” Emblem. It was not until 1949 October after Guangzhou was liberated that the KMT emblem was removed and the Statue of Liberty reinstalled, but the mallet in the statue’s hand was changed to a rifle, said to symbolize fthe famous quote by Mao that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

During the Cultural Revolution the statue was replaced by a torch

Eventually all features were removed during the Cultural Revolution

During the chaotic decade of the Cultural Revolution, the Statue of Liberty also suffered as part of the four olds campaign. The Statue of Liberty on top of the memorial was destroyed and replaced by a 2 meter tall torch. Later, the torch also disappeared and nothing remained on top of the memorial and the entire Huanghuagang memorial was deserted. In 1981, the city of Guangzhou invested money for the reconstruction of the Statue of Liberty, it was designed and sculpted by Lin Yuhao. The statue currently on top of the Huanghuagang memorial is 3.4 meters tall and was sculpted from granite; it’s modeled after the Statue of Liberty in Paris and New York with slight modifications to have more Chinese feminine characteristics and presence. The Statue of Liberty holds a book of law in its left hand and a torch in its right, symbolizing democracy, liberty and equality.

Memorial in its present form

The new statue is based on the one in New York with slight modifications

@看历史: At Guangzhou’s Huanghuagang Park stands China’s only Statue of Liberty statue. In the beginning she wore a seven ray crown, her right hand held a torch and her left a mallet, at the base of the statue perched two freedom birds; In the 1930s it was replaced by a round “Blue Sky and the White Sun” KMT emblem; it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution; In 1981 the Statue of Liberty was rebuilt, the mallet became a book to symbolize law, while the two freedom birds at the base were not reinstalled.

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jesus

such a shitty news, really.

jesus

copy and copy and copy…

Appalled@everything

You got it all out of your system now?

nitewings

because by having your name as jesus is not a form of copying *eyeroll*

jesus

just being able to copy….such a shitty news

Jay

Well, what would YOU put up there to symbolize the freedom they fought for?

A pile of broken chains?
A circle of guns?
A statue of a soldier?
Carve the likeness of each of the 72 martyrs into a plaque?

What?

Rick in China

How about a box, within a box, within a box – to symbolize the fact that nothing really changed – other than titles names and who was the oppressor?

Chang Liu

Wow, lame, they eventually ended the imperial dynasty system in China what have existed for 2000+ years. You call that nothing changed? Tell me you are trolling right? Are you completely ignorant of Chinese history?

Hongwu Emperor

So in your opinion they basically wanted to ruin what people from the Qin onwards tried to mantain? the same fiber that made the country an empire, and a f****** huge one?? the same one which helped China expand beyond its previous [warring states] borders and set up stuff like the silk route?

I though this was against the Qing, but as we can see it is against China as a whole [Qin,Han,Sui,Tang,Yuan,Ming,Qing,confucian thought AND warring-states era political system also] [and NO tianzi from this day onwards!!!]

Better to bow to an emperor to some westernized republic. this is so despicable that reminds me of the disgusting meiji restoration!! OUTRAGE!

Chang Liu

The Roman had a great system for an Empire, so did the British. Look where that got them. Let me give you an example, under the Qing as well as most Chinese dynasties women where kept in the domestic sphere (that is being kind). Now how the fuck are you suppose to compete on the international stage with HALF of your labor force locked up? Just to prove my point there was an income survey conducted in the UK around year 2000 I think. The ethnic group with the lowest income bracket in the UK where the Pakistanis which by no coincidence had the lowest rate of women of a working age actually in employment. The ethnic group with the highest income average was the Chinese. With the highest rate of women who are working. Co-incidence? NO. So tell me just on that tiny little impracticality of the place of women in society, how is China suppose to compete?

Hongwu Emperor

Unfortunately even if they wanted, the footbinding would make things difficult for them =[ but obviously for the greater welfare of the empire, they should work because then there’s more people paying taxes, therefore money to sustain army/bureaucracy/anti-flooding works,etc etc.

dim mak

Pig disgusting foreign influence.

DIM MAK shall topple that barbarian idol and create a CHINESE icon of freedom in its place.

MonkeyMouth

a statue of you farting on someone’s face, perhaps?

dim mak

I think you have me confused with that japanese guy

mr.wiener

At least he didn’t think you were superhappycow.
Any thoughts about the Chinese icon of freedom? Not the Goddess of freedom” one hopes.
That didn’t end so well

MonkeyMouth

my bad. dont worry, man… i have put my chisel down…

Chang Liu

That would be a statue of Zhuangzi or if you go with Wade-Giles pronunciation Chuang-Tze.

He is a Chinese Philosopher who lived around 4th centruy BC. He is widely cited as the first anarchist philosopher who said that ‘if you leave things be, there will be order’ Another translation is “Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone’ He appears to be one of the first philosophers who realised nature’s self organising properties. He famous rejected opportunity of high office when offered and remained a hermit all his life.

Hongwu Emperor

He would be a better symbol than that disgusting non-traditional influence.

Chang Liu

Not sure the Xinghai revolutionaries would agree with you.

Hongwu Emperor

Obivously not, because zhuangzi is a chinese philosopher, usually he or confucian thought would be labeled as ‘outdated’ because everything chinese is outdated and everything foreign is cool,modern blah blah crap right?

Following that mindset and we therefore need to kiss the ass of the foreign ideas [commie,fascist or democracy,etc]
¬¬’ SHAME

Chang Liu

Are you saying thats a good thing or a bad thing?

Anyway he sadly never became popular enough in China to the extent that shaped its political ideology. Sadly the old system isn’t competitive anymore because of evolutionary isolation. Some things just had to go out of the window.

The thing is western political ideologies are a reaction against rapid social economic changes brought about by industrialisation. Any nation hoping to industrialise will be under similar condition that the West experienced 100-200 years ago. It is no wonder that period’s ideology and institutions holds appeal to none-western industrialising nations. However bad or good they might have been they have utility. I think people often forget that, yes mindless mass education is bad and stifles creativity but it was the only way to get the necessary labour force for a manufacturing revolution etc. etc. It is easy with benefit of hindsight to criticise such ideologies and institutions but one forget they are often institutional in getting the West to where they are today.
If we look at SKorea, Japan, Singapore, similar state driven, authoritarian development had also been the primary driver for their respective economic miracle.

Hongwu Emperor

I’m saying that westernization and modernization is horrible and a complete messed up s*** that ruins the culture of a country in the process.

People do that to save the country from imperialist crap, and later becomes crap themselves.
Industrialization = s*** If i could go back in time I’d kill those punks who started it and burn the ideas to the ground. maybe we can have hopes of an eternally traditional China later.

now people needs to get used by being everyday pounded by that westernizing shithole of modernity,technology,industry,etc etc.

Chang Liu

Wow that is a bit extreme. The kinda shit China is going through is the blueprint for the rest of the undeveloped world unfortunately, unless you are some isolated Himalayan Kingdom hell bent on becoming the Shangri-la with a benign Monarchy.

mr.wiener

I’m certain they were much happier as landless peasants, farming their rice 24/7, getting ripped of by their landlords and waiting for the odd famine, pestilence or barbarian invasion to spice things up.

barbarian invasion is unavoidable, unless the dynasty is strong and manages to keep them at bay/defeat them,deceive, etc etc… just like europeans [average people I mean] couldnt avoid ww1/2 neither the koreans that war etc etc… blame it on war and its naturally cruel traits lol.

wait wait wait!!!! WAAIT! How can you ‘farm’ your rice 24/7 <> if you are a landless peasant?? its like saying ‘hey man, drink this water out of this… erm… rock!!”

mr.wiener

Landless peasant means you rent the land you are farming nimrod.

Besides which, this is all wistful thinking unless you get another dose of Budda’s evil twin, Mao, you’re never going to put Humpty back together again. That system is gone baby gone.
China’s current system of socialism with Chinese characteristics , or more accurately Chinese feudalism with socialist characteristics is a mess, but it may yet evolve into something less cruel.

Suggested light reading:”the diamond age” by Neal Stephenson.

Hongwu Emperor

Why are you bringing Mao in this discussion?? I thought you didnt pay attention that I am a supporter of the imperial system and the emperor, etc… lol.
it would be defined more as a imperialism/monarchy than communism…

And by the system I am also refering to the scholar-bureaucrats instead of that 21st century technocracy stupid s***!!!

Chang Liu

Well look at it this way. Cultures are not build on thin air. They are practices facilitating an Material energy flow/transformation at its most basic level. I.e. In China it is no accident that the Confucian ideology won, because it suited the pyramidal structure of Tributes of the Chinese bureaucracy to effectively extract resource from the peasants to the emperor. There is nothing sacred about it. Cultures that are ossified cannot cope with a exponential growth in the underlying material/energy flow unleashed by the industrial process. They either change, adapt or die out and new culture practices will emerge to accomodate this material energy matrix. It IS a law of nature. No amount of moaning will change that basic fact. So get used to it.

Hongwu Emperor

I know, but nature changes without actually doing effort in it, it doesnt decide ”hey man lets build a cool mountain here!!!11! for progress!!!one!”… it goes, slowly but surely doing things to achieve what it wants.

Besides, confucian ideology is cool.
Cultures need to change to adapt to that industrial sh** that’s why I dislike industrialism. simple as noticing that the rice is a grain and water flows.

Chang Liu

You are wrong about how nature works my friend. It does not move in a stead state or change at a constant rate. There is a concept made popular recently called the Tipping Point, same as Bifurcation in Chaos Theory and Paradigm Shift in Philosophy of Science. Basically when a system accumulates small changes at some point (often cannot be meaningly predicted) sudden massive structural changes occur and bring the system to a new way of working. Scientists are increasingly realising this about nature and all complex systems be it meteorology or animal population. If you care to look there are evidences everywhere, weather system, stock market, the recent financial crisis for example.

Hongwu Emperor

We do not need all of that scientific treatises to understand that the powers of the nature are far superior to those of the humans and we need to worship and respect the good things nature has [sun,the moon,heaven, the earth,etc] and avoid doing stupid stuff such as drilling through mountains to do a f**** railroad,etc etc.

Chang Liu

tsk tsk you can win any argument with facts can’t you. :)

Hongwu Emperor

That is true. or not, who knows? ;)

Chang Liu

I was taking the piss…

mr.wiener

Cultures do not develop in hermatically sealed bell jars. You want to throw out all foreign ideas? even the ones that came from india?
Cultures do best to cherry pick and adapt foreign ideas, not spout xenophobic drivel about kicking it all out in preference to some mythical historical happy time
……Otherwise y’all got god-fearing white folks listenin’ to that monkey music and smokin’ the marry-jew-wana……knowwhatI’msayin’?

Chang Liu

Well said. I totally agree. Pot makes everything ok.

mr.wiener

puff, puff, pass.

Hongwu Emperor

I’m not talking about foreign influences refering to ALL of them. I am refering to western european ones because they are the ones who provoked the industrial revolution and all that shit.

I’m not xenophobic nor ultra nationalist ok? for example I like studying about the Middle ages in europe, but I would burn it to the ground during the industrial revolution, for example.

Another example is Japan. I like readying and know about their history, and I find some stuff nice to know etc etc its an interesting history also. but I dislike it after the Meiji because that was ass-kissing to the modernity blah blah blah…

This is not simply hating a people/country. this is simply going against a political/social/economical/blah blah blah f***** system that eventually helped i the downfall of ‘traditional’ [non-industrial,pre-modernity,etc etc] Chinese civilization. got my point here man? lol

BigCAD

Damn modern civilization and it’s rapid transportation, swift communication, effective medicines, good government and law. Back to the fields and year zero or Juche are the only ways forward, free of poisonous foreign elements.

Hongwu Emperor

I’m not into juche/year zero stuff also. unless by year zero you mean TRULY year zero [between 1 bce and 1 ce], which would be on the Han/Xin dynasty…
And I’m totally against modernity/post-industrial stuff you know?? be it dictatorship,nazi,commie,democracy,socialist,maoist,no-one-knows-who,etc.

donscarletti

How about you defeat the Qing empire then you can pick what they build to commemorate it.

Hongwu Emperor

How about you defeat the Qing empire and RESTORE the Ming?? that’s an good idea if you guys HATE the Qing.

the qing were ultra-badass compared to this motherf**king foreign influence we see today.

Today its the same thing as the national humiliation days, but this time the chinese govt [from 1911 onwards] are letting foreign influence creep in out of their OWN opinions/will.

so the invasion is working the reverse way. the governments are out of their own will wanting foreign influence in the country. that’s why we got crap in the 20th century like mao suit [created by SUN ZHONGSHAN actually, based upon a japanese uniform which was in turn copied from the West] and shanghai clubs full with foreign influence and crap

xiaohouzi

I agree. China needs to be more original and stand alone. Why should China copy the west? Can’t Chinese culture be cool enough?

Hongwu Emperor

See? its cool enough to avoid apeing totally foreign stuff.

dave

That would require originality.

See, that’s the beautiful irony. It is very Chinese to copy what works best. And what works best is Western culture.

If Chinese culture valued individualism and originality more, instead of Confucian “follow the leader,” they’d be less Western!

Hongwu Emperor

Funningly enough, china managed to keep an cultural identity for over 2 thousands years after Confucius, and failed to do that at the first sight of ‘adopting the western system [science,technology,culture]’.

Besides, that is not simply ”chinese”. what about the japanese/korean?? Korea has no yangban and sangtu [topknot] neither its grassroots tradition and architecture right?? that works for Japan also… where are the shogun? nah, they have a US-written rotten constitution instead of samurai,shogun or traditional confucian-exams based system.

They too all bowed down and low to kiss the foreign ass and adopt their system.

Back on the HORRIBLE Meiji days, there was even an journay/essay saying that ”japan needs to LEAVE asia” refering that it should think/act/adopt what Europe does… LOL. and that was over 30/40 years BEFORE the fall of the QING in China.

And confucian thought has no hold in that, if ‘following the leader’ was imitating what the other NATION does, China would have become nomadic a long time ago, since those guys have great advantages over sedentary societies, specially before the gunpowder arms era, for example.

People back then had pride on their civilization!
Remember King wuling, Zhao kingdom?? he wanted their soldiers to ride cavalry and wear the barbarians clothes [which was refering to a pair of pants and boots, belts and fur coats] and learn to fight like them, which would be mounted archery and cavalry instead of leading in zhanche — war chariots.

He suceeded in doing that to defeat the northern nomads [xiongnu,wuhu,etc] but the nobles were f*king upset because they would have to change the old days [and clothing!] and they were angry, his uncle [Cheng] even refrain from going to office such was his outrage!

See? back then there was brave people daring to resist bloody changes! today people accept everything sooo easy. that’s DISGUSTING!

donscarletti

Dude, we’re not buying it. When you overthrew the mongols and established the Ming, you killed pretty much everyone who helped you (狡兔死，走狗烹) and then went pretty much insane. Your family was worse. The only member of your family who led China well was Zhu Rongji.

But on the other hand yuanzhang kicked out the Yuan, and ended the civil war. besides,

There’s no leader totally good neither totally bad, his impact on the empire was good and he made a great dynasty. I know that he was kinda paranoid and the jinyiwei butchered lots of people but he also did good stuff such as kicking out the mongols [unless you like them, but they are better than a westernized republic!!] and reforesting good part of China, rebuildings canals, irrigation and re-population of the north [devastated during the inital attacks of the mongolian and sparsely populated compared to the south],etc.

Hongwu Emperor

I honestly agree with you, honorable Dim Mak.

and that’s plainly disgusting, that level or foreign influence… if they like the revolution, they should built a large temple to honor them, with ceremonial stele and gui/kui ancestor plaques and those correct stuff.

putting an foreign symbol to honor chinese ”heros” is simply WRONG

Kexin Renlei

Didn’t you read the part where the US’s was copied too? From France. At the time it was more of an international symbol which later came to be associated only with the US.

Hongwu Emperor

Like I said, ‘foreign influence’
I didn’t said ‘that’s imitating the US’. although it is an imitation of the american statue, but the symbol itself is actually a symbol of the French revolution.

Theres even that painting which shows a woman leading the brigands. and that woman is supposed to represent ‘liberty/freedom’.

Chang Liu

Come on i can’t tell if you are trolling. One of the biggest intellectual currents of the 19th Century (despite Nationalism getting all the Photo op) was INTERNATIONALISM championed by left leaning spectrum from mild form of Social Democracy to hardline Anarcho syndicalists with Communism as a middle ground believe it or not. The Xinhai revolutionaries where fighting for an Internationalist ideal which makes the concept of foreign besides the point. I should bloody know as one of my ancestors where an instrumental participant in the armed insurrection which ultimately failed.

Hongwu Emperor

A VERY good idea would be fighting to overthrow a dynasty [if you dislike it etc] and put another in place.
For example, the Yuan was tore down by zhuyuanzhang [hongwu!] to give place to the Ming, or Xiangyu defeated by Liubang to create the Han,etc

China deserved another dynasty, becoming an empire again lol.

Chang Liu

The Dynastic system was reliant on a benign sovereign for prosperity. Not worth the risk. Example, the crown prince of Naple shot his whole family with machine gun as recently as 2009. For every great emperor you are likely to get some homicidal maniac.

Hongwu Emperor

It’s a risk we all take, and that’s only natural. some are good as Yu the great others are nothing more than tigers with wings.

why are you mentioning ‘feed the trolls’?? that whole crap about mdoernity I could consider it as trolling too, but even I wont do that because I’m trying to be respectful and hear everyone’s idea,etc etc

Chang Liu

Feed the trolllllls!

Chang Liu

You mean ‘Liberty Leading the People’ by Eugene Delacroix right? The woman depicted in the painting is meant to be liberty personified. Is there nothing a woman’s body cannot sell?

Hongwu Emperor

In fact, if the work wasnt foreign [meaning another culture thinks another way etc therefore people naked is often regarded as natural etc etc] I’d say its bad taste man… gimme a Zhang zeduan or a SuShi stone painting any day or the murals at Mogao-Dunhuang…

BigCAD

The ignorance on these sites is eye watering. The original statue was constructed by the French in France and then gifted to the US.

Rick in China

I don’t see why this is a point of discussion or interest to anyone, anywhere.

Chang Liu

Sure, school masacres are much more your style. FYI it is the site of perhaps the most important event in recent Chinese history.

Ruaraidh

A statue of liberty with Chinese characteristics, does that mean there’s a fat wad of cash wedged in the pages of the book of law?

Rainer

No. The Statue of Liberty looks exactly like standing on pile of crates full of opium, “symbolizing democracy, liberty and equality”, of course.

http://sinopathic.com/ terroir

“Liberty is a bitch who must be bedded on a mattress of corpses.”

It’d make for an awkward tourist site, but hey, Chinese are able to sell anything.

Rainer

Agreed. But all countries need a world cop to decide FOR THEM when, where and how the bitch must be dedded. The most important, how many corpses are needed for bitch.

遊俠

Hey Rainer, want to compare how many people died in the Opium Wars with how many died in the Cultural Revolution or Great Leap Forward? Or compare how widespread they were across the country?

donscarletti

Put her in a Qipao holding a lantern in one hand and a bamboo scroll of the Analects in the other.

Hongwu Emperor

Good idea but wait a minute!!!
wasn’t THOSE guys trying to overthrow the Qing dynasty?? so what the hell she would be wearing a Qipao? …

To go along with the 1911 revolution to put a western republic in China, she should be wearing one of those huge-ass 17-18-19th century ballroom dresses instead of a manchurian clothing, to represent the fall of any hopes of restoring chinese culture and the massive overload of westernization in China.

donscarletti

The sexy looking Qipao with the slits down the skirt and zips up on the back that we all love is a Han innovation, it just shares a name with the loose fitting, wrapped Manchu qipao you see on palace drama serials.

Hongwu Emperor

I object! that ‘we’ all love no. I strongly dislike the Qipao, if you are refering to the 20th century one. Although my favorite is hanfu [for men and women] Qipao is a very beautiful dress, but I’m talking about the one Cixi wore, or any Manchu/Chinese used back in the Da Qing.

The so-called ‘sexy-looking’ is in my opinion too much revealing, and too much ‘body-hugging’ instead of being beautiful and orderly, like the ‘true’ Qipao. it goes against tradition! and look here, I am trying to avoid using offensive terms and keeping things civilized hehe.

You would have 2 options, the statue with manchu qipao [which is inconsistent since the xinhai wanted to throw the Qing] or the chinese hanfu [which would be probably a ruqun or a banbi, since she’s a woman]

donscarletti

If you don’t like body hugging dresses then I suspect you are more likely to be one of Hongwu’s eunuchs.

Hongwu Emperor

Well well well… body hugging clothing [dresses,pants,etc] is immoral and unfortunately cannot be banned today. If things went another way obviously I would proceed to do it!!!!!!!

At the same time men should use hanfu [its many variations such as shenyi,etc] the woman should you the more loose-fitting clothing of the good days, such as the ruqun,banbi and the chang’ao. Even the manchurian Qipao [the Qing dynasty, not the f****** 20s/30s version] is a better option…

donscarletti

Look, get rid of the harem and you can start talking about sexual morality. Also, you wouldn’t believe what your great great grandson Wanli did all day.

Not all of them, and by the way no one dressed up in a immoral clothing and walking down the capital ok? today is the era of decadence, where even ‘innocent’ people [not related-to] dresss up as b***** ok?
Besides, the emperors/governors/etc having many concubines doesnt proof nothing. this has no proof that they walked around the city with indecent clothing and acting like *****!! they are more decent than people today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUTRAGE!

At least back then people tried to keep it in secret, or doing it away from public eyes. today theres in only not-decent stuff up on the internet,TV,and idiot pop songs coming from the foreign nations!!!

And people today can’t talk about morality when all they do is talk about that everytime, and immorality in the internet, full of pornography and other stuff. Once modern society gets rid of that, restore rites and extreme morality, then they can complain about the old days and say ‘hey, we live in better times where no one even dares to talk about it’

Today people say that said person or said ruler had no morality is hypocritical when a HUGE part of the society considers immoral things as ‘normal’ and doesnt even look shocked… those days had its share of immorality also, but situation today is the worst of all. from the sage-kings [yao,da yu,etc] up until today.

Besides, Wanli isnt THAT bad you know? even the Koreans [not all of them] thanked the emperor and the Da Ming for assisting them at the imjin war stuff [that japanese invasion,etc etc]. sadly, his greatest mistake was not to focus on the northeastern part, where the Jurchen was getting VERY organized.

But bring back wanli, I bet EVEN he would be more efficient in trying to fight that immoral shithole people gets used to today. [if people even touches on the corruption matter, look at modern days!!!]

Just because the Retard Guard burned his body and publicly dennounced him [involved lots of vandalism also, which is seemingly the only thing they can do] I wont buy that ok?

MonkeyMouth

this article is like dropping a big piece of ice into your soup.

Probotector

Couldn’t they come up with their own design for once?

Chang Liu

For other things i’d agree, but this was the then universal symbol of freedom. The revolutionaries where influenced by an Universal grand narrative type 19th century Ideology. Hence it is for once appropriate to copy. (you knew the American one was French right?)

Hongwu Emperor

I also know that. But it would be better like I said an ceremonial stele, and an temple etc etc… or an earthen pyramid made of RAMMED EARTH and they would be buried down there. Now THAT’S TRULY CHINESE!!!!!!!!!!!

Like those great kings,dukes and marquis during the warring states era!!

Chang Liu

Dude take a chill pill. I know China invented many thing but there are lots of things we didn’t invent or thing that where invented independently. Universal suffrage for example. Mozi may have preached it but it didn’t get anywhere in China.

Thor

The very first one, the mother of them all, can be seen in Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer.

http://www.kalanstar.com/ KopyKatKiller

I like the one in Tokyo more…

YourSupremeCommander

I prefer the one in Vegas.

PixelPulse

Who goes to Vegas to look at a statue.

http://sinopathic.com/ terroir

Who wouldn’t prefer a 60-foot tall movable Gundam with lights and lasers?

ghj686888

I feel just so sad they kind a show their glorify by some statue of liberty. It just give more reason to the states, americans to be proud of their freedom. You own the states, give back respect as much as you get from them…right….doubt that really. Equality is relative.

KAMIKAZIPILOT

I really hope English isn’t your first language, because if it is, whatever school system you came from failed horribly.

Chang Liu

I don’t get what you are saying…

KAMIKAZIPILOT

No offense, but it just looks weird having that statue there. Couldn’t they come up with a better symbol? I’ve never been impressed by copies of an original.

Jay

So what symbol would YOU put up there, if a lady holding a light for freedom doesn’t make you happy.

If you don’t have a better idea, quit whining about this one.

KAMIKAZIPILOT

How about a soldier with both arms raised, or standing at attention with his rifle, I don’t know, I’m just wondering why they couldn’t come up with an original symbol. I’m not whining, I’m commenting. Just because you don’t like a comment doesn’t mean the person is whining.

Chang Liu

Think it is based on a popular personification of liberty in the 19th century. And was later depicted leading the Parisans during the French revolution. What better symbol can there be?

Hongwu Emperor

Yeah, lets do an eiffel tower to go with the theme!! and forget the language of the ancestors [mandarin,cantonese,hakka,etc] lets speak like the so-called libertains!!!one!!!11!. what the…

Did you see? this is the kind of ass-kissing I would love to avoid.

KAMIKAZIPILOT

How about making up your own symbol to rally around. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying that it feeds the perception that Asia copies the West too much without having original ideas of it’s own.

Chang Liu

I think to the revolutionaries there were more pressing concerns.

KAMIKAZIPILOT

Fair enough, no big deal to me.

xiaopengyou

“it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution; In 1981 the Statue of Liberty was rebuilt…”

…and in 1989 a replica was built in tiananmen square, which was subsequently destroyed in June of that year.

Chang Liu

Personally I am really glad articles like this exist. Don’t get me wrong I love your Official gets caught on a pile of cash sodomising peasants story. But this is promotes a nuanced understanding of China and where it is, perhaps more importantly where it might be.

nintendo-nerd

Cool.. I hope they build the Twin Towers next lol

El Puma R.

As far as I could see, this might be the real one.. haha. The one in US has the mason symbol well printed on it’s base. Sun yat sen died, and David’s star is on the 1 Yuan bill… oh my lord

Elf Queen

I honestly think it is not so bad. It is a symbol,everyone in the world recognizes and understands.Nothing wrong with that. Thanks for the history lesson also,quite interesting!

Justin

Good. They have the statue. Now all they need is some liberty to go with it.

Ray

i don’t see why we can’t put something like this in china.the statue has long been a simbol of liberty and freedom ,same as an oliver leaf

Zhao

Nuke China, I don’t care – but save the Statue, at least.

http://chinasweat.blogspot.com/ Mike Lovett

Well that is certainly interesting! I lived in GZ for five years and was unaware of this. The two statues that stood out to me is, the big soldier in Haizhu district, and of course the one of Sun Yat Sen at the university. Oh, and the five ram statue.